


The Second One Is Better

by DarkJediQueen



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Time, M/M, Q is Vesper's Twin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:01:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22366834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: Gale wasn't sure what to think of the man who dropped into the lift with him and had now taken him hostage at gunpoint.
Relationships: James Bond/Q
Comments: 28
Kudos: 386
Collections: 2019-2020 00Q Reverse Big Bang, Suggested Good Reads





	The Second One Is Better

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Boffin1710](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boffin1710/gifts).



> **Year** : 2012  
>  **Spoilers** : Up Through Skyfall  
>  **Notes** : None  
>  **Beta** : ScarsLikeVelvet
> 
> Based on this lovely bit of art by Boffin1710  
> 

Gale Lynd looked around the lift before he dropped his bag down to the floor and then his glasses were plucked off of his nose. Those he tucked under the handle of the bag. He wasn't sure exactly how awake he was as he heard a noise. He looked down to see it was his tablet, falling off of the perfect balance had not even realized he had done with it on the bag. 

Another long assed day behind him, an even longer week and he was on vacation for two weeks before he started his new job in London after four years in France. He had been scrambling to the end to get his shite done so that he could leave and not worry. They had to hire three people to replace him, his main replacement, Gale had been training for two months, and it had become apparent in the first month that the person wasn't going to be able to do all of the jobs that Gale was. Hence two quick hires after Gale had figured out who was needed for each part. Gale didn't even think he really did all that much work really. He just did what he had to do. That was all that it was. Yet, it seemed that Gale was damned good at what he did. 

Gale had been happy to get out of there, but he also understood why the company didn't want to let him. They even offered him a salary that matched close to what they would pay three people, but it wasn't the money that he cared about. It was the job, and he wanted to be where he was going. Though the money would be fucking nice, he made enough through a few patents he had sold before taking on his new job. 

There was a scrape behind him, and Gale turned around to figure out what the hell was going on before he saw nothing. Then there was a noise, and he looked up to see someone dropping through a hole in the top of the lift. He stopped and was reaching for his phone when the man landed and held a gun on him. Gale dropped his phone back into his pocket and raised his hands. He had seen enough cop shows to know what the hell to do. 

"You aren't acting like most people would," the man said.

The man was handsome, slightly older but still fit, if the way his suit hung on his body was any indication. His accent was English and cultured enough. The gun was top of the line, and the suit was as well. This man had a lot of money, or he was kitted out to look like he had enough money. It was one of those two and Gale wasn't sure that he wanted to know which. 

"How else is one supposed to act to being dropped upon in a lift and then a gun pointed at them?" Gale asked. It was impossible to keep the snark from his voice, especially with the flawless French accent he had adopted over the years. So he hoped that the asshole with the gun didn't care enough to shoot him. "Faint? Scream? I figure that the latter will get me shot or at least knocked out and then we are back to the former and who would protect my virtue then?"

The man was looking at Gale like he was pretty damned sure that Gale was insane. That part was debatable, but Gale could pass all of the tests that he needed to prove that he wasn’t. 

"You looked at it like it was an inconvenience and I have never seen anyone look at me with that look before." 

"I see. Well, sorry. Though it kind of is. I mean you are either going to take me hostage, knock me out, or kill me. None of those things is actually going to help me get home and get food inside of me. So yes, inconvenience is a very good word for that gun." 

The man looked at Gale with narrowed eyes. He looked down at Gale's feet and the glasses that were there. His trigger finger tightened on the trigger and Gale couldn't help the flinch. There was no way to hide it. 

"What are those for?" the man asked.

"Glare. I work on computers all day long, and they help to protect my eyes from getting tired and from the blue light in them. I don't actually need them to see."

"I see. Why would you tell me that?"

"How do you mean?" Gale asked.

"It would have been better to lie and tell me that you are blind as a bat. Then I would think you couldn't see my face and I might have let you go."

"Except that I flinched and you knew it. Lying at this point would probably get that bullet in me faster than anything else. I also see no sense in lying and getting myself shot at all. I figure you are going to fuck up at some point and I can make it out of here with my life intact." 

"Not your dignity?"

"What is dignity compared to life? I'd march down the street naked if it meant saving my life." 

The man looked like he wanted to laugh but was too serious to do so. 

"So we are at an impasse. I can't let you leave as you have seen me. You seem like a screamer, and as soon as we get off of this lift, you are going to do that. Even if I knocked you out, you would still know my face. So what am I going to do?" 

"Are you asking me? I would vote for letting me go. I mean, I have no clue who you are, and I have a strong sense of wanting to live, so I am not going to go running and screaming and draw attention. I mean you have got to have a high body count. I'm thoroughly scared and more than willing to never mention this again, not even on my deathbed."

"And yet I don't believe you. So, be reasonable. What would it take to get you to go with me out of here without screaming?" 

Gale didn't know what to answer. He looked down at his bag. It had his laptop in it and everything that was his. Years and years of work that would be gone. He looked back up, but the man wasn't there. He snagged the bag and held it up, the tablet that had been in front of it, falling down to the ground. Gale hated the wounded sound that he made with that. There were backups, but those were not complete like that and Gale wasn't secure enough in France to have good backups there. They were all in London, in the flat he kept there. If he did anything, he was going to get shot, so he had to go along with what the man wanted from him. There was every chance that was going to get him killed as well. 

"Well, then. I think that I have it. I'll destroy this." The man held the gun up at Gale again before he tucked the bag under his arm and opened the zipper to look at the laptop. The zip sounded again as he closed it up. "I have your attention. I don't think I need this anymore." 

The man slipped the gun into his pocket and reached out to tap a button on the lift, and it started to move. Gale hadn't even noticed that he hadn't pressed it. 

"I'll also shoot anyone that you try and signal, so don't be a hero." 

Gale nodded and turned to face the door. He grabbed his tablet and his glasses, slipping the latter on his face. Before he could do anything, there was the man helping him out of the door of the lift with an arm over his shoulder. They looked like a couple, and the man was being nice by carrying his bag. Gale tried his hardest to just keep on going, to make it through the lobby of the building where he no longer worked before someone stopped him. There were not a lot of people who actually liked him there. He was half hated, and the other half was scared of him, of his wit and ability to take them down to their base elements. Which were not good. 

There was a car sitting outside with a valet nodding at the man before the door to the passenger side was opened up, and Gale slipped inside. The man kept hold of Gale's backpack as he walked around after taking the keys from the valet. Whoever this man was, he was powerful. It wasn't hard to get that as the valet service was mainly for the higher up. 

"I hope your visit was a good one, Mister Sterling," the valet said before he shut the door to the car and the man who the valet called Sterling left without a single word. 

There was no way that Sterling was the man's name, but then it really could be. Sterling seemed smug enough to use his real name for stupid shit. Gale eyed his bag that was in the backseat where it had been settled. It was buckled in. Gale had been too busy trying not to freak out to notice that. It was going to be impossible to get to and roll out of the car. There was also the fact that Sterling's gun was on his leg now, his hand resting on it. The other hand was on the steering wheel. He drove with competence, and his eyes were always moving, looking for something that was going to come at them. 

Gale decided that yes, the man was probably a paid assassin of some kind and someone in his office building, which held a lot of different offices, was going to die in an unexplained way and probably horrific way. 

Tracking where they were was easy. Gale knew the city like the back of his hand. He also knew where the seedier elements lived. He wasn't shocked when Sterling pulled into what used to be a warehouse but was now condos for those who had the money. There was a garage on the bottom floor, and Sterling drove right into it, and a door opened on the inside as they got close. There had to be a sensor in the car because Sterling hadn't touched a single thing inside of the car that wasn't his gun or the steering wheel and there were no buttons on the steering wheel for him to it. 

Inside of the garage was another car, an Aston Martin DB5 of all fucking things and a lift. Gale didn't move when the car was stopped, and he didn't even when Sterling got out. The man though walked to get the bag before Gale could reach over and grab it. Sterling walked around the back of the car and opened up Gale's door. The gun was still in his hand. 

Gale took his time looking around the garage before he followed Sterling to the lift. There were no buttons on the inside for the operation of the door. There was nothing that could help him escape. The lift was devoid of buttons as well. There was just a place for Sterling to lay his hand and then the lift started up. Yeah, there was no way that what this guy did was legal at all. 

The flat that the doors opened up to was spacious, and there was no area that wasn't visible, outside of what Gale assumed was the bathroom that was built out into the room. There was a single bed that was monstrous and looked like it was going to be wonderful to sleep in. There was another door just on the other side of the bed, and Gale assumed it was a closet of some kind. There was no other evidence of clothes or even a dresser in the flat. 

"So this is home sweet home?"

"For a little while longer, yes." Sterling flicked the gun toward the room, and Gale took that as a motion for him to move. He swallowed at putting his back to the man. He could kill him right now, and there would be no one around. These places weren't owned by those who would call the police over a gunshot happening in the middle of the day. It wasn't like there were neighbours close enough outside of the building to hear it either. It was a huge space with a lot of distance around. 

Gale walked over to the window to see that they were on the top floor, and the view was spectacular. Gale was kind of in love with it, despite the whole he's probably going to die before the end of the day. He ignores everything in favour of just watching how the sun started to set and the whole of the city began to come alive after the workday. It was something that Gale had been looking forward to from the view of his own flat halfway up the tallest building. It never looked like this though with the distance between him and the city. 

It looked like a fairy tale, and all that Gale could think about was that his life was a nightmare. 

"What's your name?" Sterling asked as he appeared at Gale's side. The gun was no longer in his hand, but there was the threat of violence in the way that the man stood there. 

Gale just glared at him. His identification was at home in his flat, where he kept it. To get to and from work, all he needed was his feet and the badge. That badge had been deactivated at some point during the day, and Gale should have handed it over to security when he left, but he hadn't as he had a gun on him. He hoped that it meant someone would start to look for him to at least get it back. 

"So you can what? Threaten my loved ones? Don't worry about that. My sister is dead and so are my parents. I don't even have a cat you can threaten to kill to make me do what you want."

"I guess that I could call you some random name that I make up, but I was just trying to be nice. We are stuck like this for at least a week before I can let you go to live out the rest of your life afraid I'm going to do something to you if you even breathe a word of this to anyone."

"What is your name?"

"Richard Sterling."

The way that Sterling said it, the way his lips didn't quite know how to form the words right told Gale that he was right that it wasn't the man's actual name. Yet it gave him the perfect opportunity to get under the man's skin. He needed to get the man off of his axis to get out of this. 

"Oh, Dick, just a lovely name," Gale simpered. 

The glare that Dick gave him was something that Gale was going to treasure, especially after he had got out of here and made sure that the cops found him. 

"And your name?"

"Gale." It was the only name that was on his badge which was clipped to his bag, or it had been. It wasn't worth it to lie to Dick. That would only set up something where Dick would never trust him. 

"Gale what?"

"Yeah, no fucking way, dude. You might be able to lie and tell me the wrong name, but I have no way of checking that. You can do something else to find me, though." Gale knew that Dick would search though French records for him but wouldn't find him and then from where it was the rest of the world. It wasn't like it was that hard really for a genius to adopt an accent. Dick would probably search England last just because it would be the last thought on his mind since it was where he was from unless he also was faking his accent. 

Gale just wanted him to leave so that he could look around. He was sure that his bag was somewhere secure, but he still had his tablet clutched in his hands. So far, Dick hadn't noticed it at all. Thought without Wi-Fi, it wasn't like he could do a damned thing with it. He hoped to have enough time to hack the closest Wi-Fi, but he didn't bet on that. It wasn't like Gale could hack every single one of them on his tablet. He would need his laptop for that. The tablet was market specs that he had modified a little before he started to get the parts to make his own from scratch. It was part of why his new employer wanted him.

It was going to be two weeks before they started to look for him. He would either be dead or smuggled out of the country by that point in time. 

"Hungry?"

"No, thanks, Dick." 

Dick flinched at the name, and it only made Gale grin at him. 

"Well, I'm famished, so I'm going to order in." Dick spun on his heel, the move perfect like every other soldier that Gale had ever seen. So former military and dangerous as fuck. 

Gale turned back to the window and pushed the sounds of the flat out his head. After a while his legs were tired, so he slid down the partial wall that helped support the glass that made up the wall, and he watched the city darken as the sun finally fully set but also brighten with all of the lights that were turning on. 

The smell of food filled Gale's nose, and his stomach growled, but he just laid his hand over it. He'd sneak around and get food once Dick was asleep, glutted on the food he was eating. The man had to sleep at some point. Gale closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep. The sounds of cutlery on plates and then glass on wood had Gale opening his eyes some. He looked at where the sounds had come from to see that there was a small end table beside him that had a plate of food as well as a glass of wine. It smelled wonderful, some kind of pasta with vegetables and seafood. The wine smelled sweet. He was so damned hungry that he didn't care if it was laced with something that would knock him out. 

Gale ate the food as fast as he could but also not throw up. He eyed Dick out of the corner of his eye. The man was sitting at the island on the kitchen side, watching Gale as he ate. The wine was drained after he was done eating. He didn't need it going to his head. He was horny when he was drunk, and despite how good Dick looked, Gale didn't want to end up with Dick's dick in him. 

The lights in the flat were dimmed and then turned mostly off, except for the one at the bed and Gale was unsure what the man was doing, but Dick was looking at a bunch of papers that he scattered on the bed. Gale watched him for two hours before he started to nod off, with his belly full and the flat warm. 

* * *

Startling awake at the sound of a ding, Gale groaned as he moved. He had fallen asleep against the window it seemed. He was covered in a blanket, though, and his head was resting on a pillow. He looked over to see that Dick had left. The lift doors were shutting. Gale forced himself up and his body protested by seizing up after not moving all night, and Gale was on the floor on his side.

Gale took his time to get himself up off the floor, stretching out everything before standing. He moved slowly as his legs really didn't like having all of his weight on them. He looked around inside of the kitchen first, every single cabinet. There were pans that actually looked like they were being used and food in the fridge. It was strange as fuck to see it. The food in the refrigerator was high class and made things that Gale only ordered in restaurants. It seemed the ordering out was not something that Dick did a lot of. It was probably a blip in the radar the night before and had to do with Gale being there and them getting there later than Dick would like.

An assassin with a passion for the culinary arts. Gale opened the fridge again and checked that the meat inside was procured in a usual fashion and wasn't a possibility of being human in any way, shape, or form. He had read the Hannibal Lector series of books. Satisfied in that, Gale made his way to the closet to see what was inside. He found the dresser that was stocked full of socks and underwear. All folded nice and neat and in perfect military fashion.

It was all so perfect that Gale wanted to mess it up. He wanted to just pick everything up and toss it all down on the floor. Instead, he looked through to find clothes as he hated what he was in and wanted to be out of it. There was a safe on the floor, but Gale ignored it for a later time. He ignored the drawer of pants and just grabbed a pair of linen trousers that he was sure he could tighten enough to where they would not fall off of his skinny arse and a T-shirt. Everything was new, nothing had been used enough to show wear and tear. That helped Gale figure out that yes, this guy wasn't who he seemed to be at all.

The bathroom was pristine, and there were bath products in there. The expensive kind. Gale snorted and reached behind to lock the door, but he stopped. It wasn't going to stop Dick from getting in there, so there wasn't a point in securing it. He frowned and sighed before he stripped naked. He left his clothes piled in front of the door and walked over to the shower to turn it on. It was a very posh looking with its glass walls that were not going to stop anyone from seeing his skinny arse from outside of it unless it turned opaque with steam or something. Gale had no issues being naked around people. His years in a dorm at university stopped him from having that. It wasn't odd to see someone running down the hall mostly, or all the way naked because something was forgotten.

Gale knew that he wasn't acting normal at all, not normal for someone who was taken hostage but then he had never acted normal in his life. Not when his twin sister told him that she hated him forever for not doing what she wanted to help her get what she wanted. Not when their parents died when they were sixteen and Gale got himself emancipated so that he could go to university. It had been the nail on the coffin of the close relationship between them.

Then she had died.

Gale had never cared to look into it much, not shocked that he got a visit from a man in a suit who made sure that Gale knew what would happen if he looked into the death of his sister. National security and the word traitor had been bandied around, and then Gale had been given her ashes. Gale had them buried just over their parents grave, and her name, as well as the date of her birth and death, added. Gale wasn't stupid enough to track down what the hell she did to end up dead. He understood the threat for what it was. He might have been stupid enough though if he hadn't been warned off of it, though. He was smart enough in everything computers to be just dangerous enough.

Life was better outside of prison though so Gale shoved his sister into a box that he was never going to touch again, and he went on with his life. It wasn't like he had been in his sister's life at all since their parents had died. Twin or not, she had cut him out. He hadn't said or thought her name in years. It was always just his twin or her. It probably wasn't healthy, but then there wasn't a lot of things that he did in his life that were healthy compared to most of the humans of the world.

Gale took his time showering, letting the stink of the day before sluice off of him down into the drain. He used a rag from the stack outside of the shower and didn't care too much about it. He dropped it into a corner of the shower when he was done and braced his hands on the wall and let the water hit him. It was a good feeling, so he stayed like that.

When the water started to cool down, Gale turned it off and reached out for the towel that was hanging on the rack. He swiped where he thought it was before he actually looked at where it had been. It was empty. He looked down, but it wasn't there as well, then he saw movement at the edge of his vision. There was Dick holding the towel, a smirk on his face. Gale glared at him but didn't let that stop him. He marched out of the shower and took the towel from the man's unresisting hand.

Gale figured that he thought he was going to be some demur thing and scream or cover his groin. He started at the top of his head and worked down his body as he dried off. Never taking his eyes off of Dick for a single second. Dick seemed to enjoy looking at him as well. Gale gave him a smirk as he dropped the towel to walk over and grab the clothes he had snagged for himself. The shirt and trousers were not there though. There was instead a pair of sleep pants and a different T-shirt, both in his size. He slipped them both on before turning around.

"I'm glad those fit. I found the only things that I thought might fit you. I have breakfast if you want it and then I have to leave for a few hours. I have things for you for sandwiches for lunch. Feel free to eat whatever you want."

"And what am I supposed to do for hours while you are gone?" Gale asked. He stepped around Dick and moved out into the central part of the flat. He saw breakfast on the island. It looked like it was from a place that was one of Gale's favourites from near where he worked. It wasn't that strange, though as it was a popular place for people to grab breakfast.

"I have plenty of books. I'm sure that you can entertain yourself. Your tablet is put up with your bag, so don't go looking. I know you have found my safe in the closet. I would not try and crack it if I were you. You might injure yourself."

"How would I crack a safe?" Gale asked.

"I saw your badge. I was there long enough to learn what each departments codes were. I know you work for technical services. I know what you can do with a computer, and that's why you are not allowed around anything."

Gale held in the pout in, but he walked over to settle on the far side of the island, grabbing one of the boxes of food from the counter. There were four, and he wasn't sure what was in at least two of them. He cracked open the one that he had pulled toward him to find that it was meat and potatoes. He frowned and grabbed another.

"That's mine." Dick grabbed a container and slid it over before he pulled the other toward him.

Inside of the second one, Gale found eggs, scrambled, and croissants. He snagged one of them and took a bite, it was filled with marmalade. He looked at Dick in shock.

"The other is chocolate if you don't like that one," Dick said without looking up from where he was eating his food. He was enjoying it too, by the looks of how he was eating it. It was fast, but not so fast that he was inhaling it. Dick's mind had to be elsewhere, but so far, Gale had not figured a way out of the flat, so there was no reason to rush to judgement on anything. So far, he was being fed, and clothes had been procured for him. It wasn't the best thing in the world, but he didn't do anything without planning for it first. He would have hours to figure shit out later. He was perfectly fine playing the happy little hostage until he could figure out how the fuck to get out of there. 

Dick left with little fanfare his eyes on Gale the entire time. The doors on the lift shut and Gale just set about finishing off his breakfast before eating the croissant that he was pretty sure that Dick was saving for himself. There was a trash can hidden in the cabinets of the kitchen, so Gale shuffled the boxes together and wrapped them in the brown paper bag that they had come in to take up the smallest space and then he set about looking around more. There was not a single thing inside of the flat that was personal. It looked like it was a monument to someone who was hiding everything about themselves but then Gale didn't have much room to talk. Yes, it seemed that his flat was full of stuff, but none of it was personal at all. It was a collection of science fiction, fantasy, and computer technology items. There was a single picture of his parents in his bedroom sitting on his nightstand. He and Vesper were not in the picture, it was why Gale had picked it to be the only thing that he had taken from the house that was personal before it was all packed up and put in storage. Gale had been through everything once to take care of getting what he wanted out of it before he had moved to France for his job, just after Vesper had died. The kitchen items that were usable after years in storage had gone to Gale's flat, the rest scrapped for parts if the item no longer worked. 

The linens had been given away to various local places that helped people in need. Gale had gotten rid of most of the things inside of the storage facility and had been able to move down to a smaller one. Thankfully the furnishings for the house had been gotten rid of as neither of them had ever wanted them, so the movers had not done that at all. Gale had no clue what happened to them, but he didn't really care then, and he didn't now. 

"Who are you?" Gale asked the room like it was going to answer. He faced the bed and saw that there were two nightstands. That meant the place was probably furnished by someone else, or it came with furnishings. Either way, it wasn't something that Dick would have bought. Gale started to snoop through the drawers on the side that it seemed that Dick slept on. A box of condoms, none used, and a lightly used bottle of lube was in the top along with a tactical knife and what looked like a bottle of some kind of pills. Gale had never seen them before, so he just left them alone. He was not someone who was into taking pills just because he wanted to see what they did to him. He hadn't done anything stronger than alcohol in university for that reason as well. Drugs messed up the mind, and Gale needed his mind to become someone who mattered. 

The sound of Vesper's voice as she yelled at him for wanting to go with computers instead of following her into government services in a job that had prestige and respect still played in Gale's memory. Gale always had his eyes set on a very different government job, but one had to work up to it, and he had been fine with it. It was what he was getting ready to head into. It wasn't going to be an easy transition. Gale already knew he was being put in as a head of one section of the technical services department and that it wasn't going to go over well. Gale didn't care about that because what he had learned about his job told him that they needed him more than he needed them. It was going to be horrific on his schedule, and he was going to be busy for at least a year, and Gale was looking forward to it. 

There was nothing else inside of nightstand, so Gale moved to the other. He found another tactical knife in there as well as a hard drive of some kind. It was impossible to do anything with it unless he had a device of some kind. That meant getting into the safe where his computer and tablet were. Gale trusted that it was rigged in some way, so he left that to comb the rest of the flat. Gale had never done training of any kind in espionage, but he read a lot, and even though he knew that most books were pure fiction, there was a grain a truth in most, and it wasn't hard to figure out what to do and not to do. He made sure that the whole place was checked, every single cabinet, every single box of food that was open was dug through with a fork to make sure nothing was hidden inside. It seemed that Dick was damned good at what he did. Everything was in plain sight, which meant that anything important was hidden in the safe or the closet as it was the only place that was left to be checked. 

Gale steeled himself to go into the last room only to have his stomach growl. He walked to the fridge to find what Dick had been talking about. There was indeed fresh cut meats as well as cheeses in there. Enough for several meals. Gale figured that it was to be his lunch for the next few days. He could cook some, but mostly it was stir fry and a few other things. Otherwise, he ate out. Long days at work hunched over a computer or standing on his feet at his standing desk meant that he was usually tired as hell when he got done, and there were enough places in the city that he could eat well while also eating out. He wasn't lithe from just not eating. He ate well, but between his metabolism and his exercise regimen, he was lightly muscled. There was no way that he was ever going to be able to take Dick in a fight because he wasn't trained to fight, but he could run faster than most. Tomorrow, before he showered, he would work through his in house routine so that he could easily stay in shape. 

The sandwiches were easy to make, and he had seen a bag of crisps in the cabinet, new, so he figured that it was for his lunch. He didn't care if they were for Dick. The bread was fantastic, so he ate a piece of it while walking through the flat to get to the closet. It was a very fresh french baguette that had to have been grabbed by Dick that morning. If he ate it all, Dick would have to go out for more and at the moment that was the highlight of his life, pissing off Dick. 

Gale dropped down in front of the safe and looked at it. He knew of the brand, but it wasn't top of the line. It was, however, a favourite of those who were on the seedier side of life because it was easy to rig in other ways. He had heard of many being blown up by trigger happy people who were tweaking. So cracking it in a usual fashion really was out of the picture. It was, however, not the only thing that caught his eye in the room. He noticed a black folder sticking out from behind the dresser where Dick kept his pants. He grabbed that and opened it up. It was just a file about the company that Gale used to work for. There were notes in some kind of shorthand written in the margins. He wondered why his company was being looked at. It wasn't like it was a big company, it was huge in France but didn't move outside of the borders of the country. It was part of why he had picked it and settled himself in. He wanted to live outside of London for once in his life before settling into a career that was going to keep him firmly there. 

The homesickness had been something that Gale hadn't figured on, and it was why he had upped his timeline on a job. 

Gale had ended up settling into the closet with a paperback from the shelves of books and a glass of water after he was done snooping around. He still had the books to look through in a more efficient manner, but he had no clue when Dick was going to back, and he didn't want to get caught looking through them like that. The book was good, one that Gale had not read before even though it was fantasy. In fact, there were few books on the shelves in the flat that he had read before. He would at least be occupied that way. He had even found a notebook on the shelves and had plans to code a little in it. It wasn't the best option, but at least if he got it wrote down, he would remember it. His eidetic memory was good for something.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly. He heard the door open and a few things being set down in the kitchen and then nothing. He kept on reading, forcing his eyes not to look up to see when Dick found him. 

"Little rabbit likes a burrow?" Dick asked.

Gale didn't respond, he didn't even look up at all until he was done reading the chapter, wanting to see what Dick did. He looked up as he closed the book after slipping the ripped off sheet of paper he was using as a bookmark into the book. Dick was leaning against the door jamb, an almost fond look on his face. Gale didn't know what to do with that. 

"This is my favourite position to read in, and there are no window seats out there for me to settle into, so here was good enough."

"The floor is just as hard in here as it is out there."

Gale knew that. The whole place was hardwood, no carpet anywhere. Probably better to get rid of bloodstains. 

"Yes, but there are clothes in here." Gale stood up, revealing the piled clothes that he was sitting on. The look of utter horror on Dick's face was worth it. Gale laughed as he slipped out of the room between Dick and the doorway. He made sure not to touch the man so that he didn't piss him off anymore than he already had with the clothes thing. Gale was good at that. He had learned the fine art of needling someone just enough to piss them off but not to send them into a rage with Vesper when they had turned ten as that was when Vesper had started to change into someone who thought more about her status in life than being happy and having someone to love. Gale had learned that money didn't matter if one didn't have love. Their parents had loved each other and had never wanted for a single thing in life. Their children had never wanted either. They were all comfortable and had good things. Food was plenty, and their hobbies indulged. Yet, Vesper wanted the best of everything. The best clothes and to never wear a dress more than once. She wanted to be seen as the best. Gale had just wanted to be happy, and his hacking made him happy. Vesper had never understood that. 

"You know for someone who can kill you with a snap of your neck, you don't act scared enough of me."

"Why should I act scared when you could have shot me and stuffed me in your car and drove me off to dump me in a river? You don't want to kill me, for some strange reason. You haven't handcuffed me to a pipe and feed me rations. You might act gruff and horrible, but you are going out of your way to keep me alive. I seriously doubt that my pissing you off by sitting on your clothes is going to make you kill me."

"I thought that computer boffins didn't understand anything about human interaction?" Dick asked.

"And I assumed that you were smart enough to understand that not everyone fits the exact cookie-cutter mould that you are slotted into." Gale looked around to see what was different about the place as there had to be something. He had heard things being set down. He saw that there were grocery bags on the counter, and Dick was heading toward them. It was more ingredients and not an actual meal this time though. Gale wondered just what Dick was going to make for dinner and if he could get away with finishing off the bread to make a sandwich. He really hoped that whatever Dick made was something that he hated. He figured that it wouldn't be though. Gale tucked his book to his chest before walking over to the windows, and he settled on the pillow from the couch and leaned against the glass to look out. When he was done watching people that looked so small that they were like ants, he turned to read his book. He could hear Dick preparing food for dinner, and the smells that filled the flat were wonderful. 

Gale must have fallen asleep at some point as he was startled awake by the sound of a thump. He shot up and looked around to see that it was a repeat of the night before. A glass of wine was on the small knee height table and a plate of food beside it. It was just pasta with Bolognese sauce with spiced, grilled chicken on top of that. There were vegetables in the sauce, diced up but enough that it looked like a full serving of vegetables. Gale had to wonder if Dick was worried about Gale getting sick or something. Or if the man just liked vegetables that much. 

Just like the night before, Gale dug into the food first before even taking a single sip of the wine. He was so focused on his food that he missed Dick getting up until there was a glass of water set down in front of him. There was stuff floating in it and lime on top. Gale looked up at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"Lime cucumber. I take the cucumber out, so the rinds don't turn it bad, but the limes are squeezed into it." 

Gale picked up the glass and took a sip, it tasted pretty damned good. He nodded his head. He wasn't going to tell Dick in words thanks. He knew that it was petty, but it wasn't like he was here of his own free will. He had seen the pitcher of water in the fridge but had ignored it. He drank tap water straight from it most of the time and didn't care if it was cold or not. Probably because his parents had been more of the people to get a pitcher of water to get to room temp and drink from it all day long. 

Drinking the water while eating, Gale finished off his food before he pushed the table away from him with his wine glass in his hand. He watched as Dick looked at something that was on the table in front of him. It was interesting to see the man absorbed in what he was doing. He reverted to something that was close to what his usual way had to be. He moved with precision, and if this was anything other than Gale being held hostage by the man, it would be a little arousing. Gale knew that he had a competence kink a mile wide, he just had never admitted it to anyone else in his life. 

* * *

The first four days of Gale's captivity were much the same as the first day. Dick went out and picked up breakfast as well as coffee after that first day and what he needed to cook dinner. He was gone through the afternoon and came back in the early evening. More clothes that were not just simple sleeping clothes were brought back as well as a loaf of bread. Gale read and played with the safe some, but he wasn't able to connect to it enough to actually do a damned thing to it. 

Dick came in on the morning of the fifth day, and he seemed a little pissed, so Gale stayed where he was on the floor, curled in what had become his blanket in his corner of the windows. He slept like that every single night, and so far he wasn't exactly getting the best sleep, but he was getting some. He did not want to sleep on the couch because he would sleep too deeply. 

There were no drinks in Dick's hands, and that made Gale frown. There was no coffee pot in the flat, and while there was a kettle, there was no tea. 

Gale watched as Dick moved around the kitchen with a glare on his face. He had a bag from a different grocery store on the counter. He looked up and locked eyes with Gale. "Do you like tea?"

"Yes," Gale said. He hadn't mentioned at all that he preferred tea. He could drink the coffee that was brought back once he added enough sugar into it. He wasn't willing to give Dick more on him than he needed to. 

"The shop was closed today, and so I went to get coffee from the store and forgot that I don't have a pot and the place closest doesn't have the one that I like so I need to go across town. I got some variety thing that's supposed to have good things. I have no clue." 

The box of tea was set down, and Gale slowly pushed himself up to walk across the room to grab it up. It had a standard breakfast tea in it as well as Earl Grey, and a lighter fruity one with green tea and then an herbal. A tea for each time of the day. It was a good brand, all loose leaf though and not bagged. Gale almost pointed out that but then he saw the tea steeper that was beside it as well as a mug, the mug was huge. More than big enough for a cup to last Gale until it was cold, but still, he would drink it. 

"Thank you," Gale said. 

Dick looked at Gale like he had asked for Gale to be allowed to blow him. Gale looked away to get ready to make up the tea. He set everything out. The breakfast first before setting the rest in a pile on the counter. The kettle needed to be washed on the outside from the dust and a full batch of water made before he used the next. Gale had no clue if the thing had been used at all since it had been added to the flat. 

If this were any other morning with any other man, Gale could make himself believe it was domestic. Gale had stayed hell and far from the kitchen with Dick was in it. There were knives in there. Gale knew that he should be trying to escape, but at the moment, there was only a single way out of the flat, and that was the lift, and it was coded to Dick's hand. Gale had spent one afternoon trying to pry the machine off of the wall with the butter knives but had ended up breaking one. He had hidden it in the trash in the bathroom after that and had left it alone. The walls were bare of triggers and anything else that could be hiding a set of stairs. Gale was trapped with someone who would just as soon kill him if he threatened him at knifepoint than do what he wanted. He would rather play the long game. 

Once the second set of water was boiled, Gale made up a cup of tea with just a little sugar in it. The others he would drink unsweetened but straight black tea he drank with sugar. Dick watched him as he ate his breakfast, and there was something strange in his eyes. It wasn't dark like his eyes were most of the time. Gale hadn't paid attention to his eyes before now, but they were a beautiful shade of blue. Almost ice-like in some ways. Dick's eyes changed colour just slightly, a darker shade of light blue when he was focused or murderous, Gale wasn't sure. To this light colour.

Picking at his breakfast, Gale took his time and enjoyed his tea. He knew that there was enough of each one for a cup of each a day for a week, but he wasn't sure that he was going to limit himself to that. He could always ask Dick for more. He was pretty sure the man wouldn't say no. It wasn't like he was going out of his way to be a horrible hostage-taker. Outside of that first day, Dick hadn't even touched him. He hadn't even yelled at him. Barely talked to him at that. Asking about food things and what he liked and didn't was the longest conversation that they had had. The meats stayed for his lunch, which was fine for Gale. He didn't like to cook all that much anyway, so throwing together a sandwich with some crisps was good. 

The afternoon whiled away until the sun was starting its descent and curled into the spot that Gale considered his, he startled when the lift came to life. He propped the book on his raised legs and let his hand slip down to the floor where he had the large knife he had kipped from the kitchen. If Dick was someone who lived like this, he had enemies and just because Gale was trapped didn't mean he wasn't going to defend himself from an attack. Dick was never home this early. 

The doors on the lift opened up to show Dick with two cups in his hands. They were both from a lovely coffee shop that Gale had found his fourth day in the city. It was close to the office and tucked away. It was a local favourite and saw little to no tourist traffic. The smell of coffee filled the room as Dick set them down and then took the lid off of one. 

Gale might drink coffee in the morning, but he wasn't going to drink it in the late afternoon. He already had enough trouble sleeping. Dick walked across the room and settled the second cup there on the little stand that Gale usually set his food on. His empty teacup was there, dredges of his fruity green tea were in there. Enough to get a taste, which Dick did as he picked it up and walked away with it. He shook his head in a near movement of disgust, something that Gale had never seen. 

Ignoring the coffee, Gale started to read again. He flipped pages as he read them until something tickled his nose. Bergamot and milk. He leaned forward, pressing his chest to the book. He popped the lid on what he thought was coffee to find that it was an Earl Grey latte, called a London Fog. Gale looked at where Dick was in the kitchen, it looked like he was preparing dinner. There was nothing on the stove, and everything was on the island. Dick didn't look up at him, but Gale knew that he was faced the way he was to try and watch Gale as much as possible. 

Gale took a hesitant sip of the tea to find that the standard vanilla wasn't in it. He glared at Dick. 

"I saw you added only a little bit of sugar to your black tea this morning and I figured that the sweetness of the steamed milk would be enough. Do you need sugar?"

"No." Gale kept glaring at Dick even though the man hadn't looked up at him once during his speech. 

"Would you prefer one of those instead of coffee every morning?" 

Gale hesitated. He didn't want to admit that to the man. He really didn't, but he missed his morning London Fog. It reminded him of home. 

"Yes, please." 

Dick said nothing else as he focused fully on whatever he was doing. Gale kept glancing at him and gave up after ten minutes of trying to read the same page before he closed his book, made sure his blanket covered the knife and stood up.

"I need my knife back please," Dick said before Gale took his first step. 

Gale ducked down to grab it and felt a little bit of pride that Dick would have to clean it before using it. He passed the knife over, handle first in a practised move that he had learned with the little bit of self-defence that he had taken in university. Dick's eyes widened at the way he handed it over. Dick's eyes darted over to the corner of the counter though, and Gale saw what was there. A tactical knife and a taser. 

"You get the taser when I leave for the day and when I come home, it had better not be used against me. It won't work that long on me, and then you'll be tied up every single day when I leave."

Gale nodded. He grabbed the knife and took it over to his pile of things, leaving the taser where it was on the counter. Dick moved it to a table by the door that had a drawer that locked. Gale figured that the knife wasn't going to be enough to kill Dick. The man had a few stones on him in weight and more training then Gale could even imagine. The weapons were to try and defend himself if someone got in. That meant there was a way for them to get in. Gale knew what he was going to be doing the next day instead of reading. There was a secret in the flat, and he was going to be the one to find it. 

Whatever Dick was working on, it went into the fridge and then Dick was walking over to settle on the couch closest to Gale's nest of a bed. He settled there and kicked his feet up onto the coffee table, watching Gale as he read his book again. 

Gale could feel his eyes on him the entire time, but he tried to dismiss it. He wasn't doing the greatest at ignoring Dick, and he hated that. 

"So what do you do for work?"

Gale looked at Dick, asking him with his eyes and face if he thought that Gale was stupid. Gale reached out for his tea, taking a long sip of it. It made him feel warm inside, and he had no clue if it was from the temperature or not. 

Dangerous things were dangerous, Gale's parents had pushed that into his head over and over again. Yet, Gale never took that to heart. It was what got him into hacking and everything that followed. It had worked out well for him outside of his sexual life. The last dangerous guy that he had dated ended up nearly putting him in the hospital the first time that Gale had to skip a date to work late for a major issue with the servers. Gale had come home to him waiting outside of his door and then got a fist in the face. Thankfully, the neighbours had cared, called the cops and protected Gale by taking the man down. 

"I fully expected you to have tried to take me out when I'm coming home." 

"I live to be a surprise," Gale said. He turned a page in his book to keep on reading.

"Or at least try and threaten me."

"So far the accommodations are fine, you are not threatening to hurt me, and really it's a nice vacation."

"Yes, and no one is freaking out about someone missing from the building at all."

"Ah, yes. You want to know why? Well, I had left that job. You literally kidnapped on my last day." There was no reason to lie about that. 

"I see." There was a look on Dick's face though that said he didn't quite believe what Gale was saying but had no way of proving that he was lying. 

There was one other thing about the whole thing that made Gale wonder just what kind of access Dick had. Gale's employment records had been wiped as soon as he had left the building. A time-delayed virus had wiped everything. He had been given his last check that day when he had come into work. It hadn't been standard, but Gale had pushed it. He had stayed an hour over, but that wasn't worth fighting over. It was like Gale Lynd didn't work there and never had. So if Dick had looked for him, there would be no records of it at all. 

MI6 made sure that he was a ghost, allowing him the ability to make it happen. He wasn't sure what kind of shit Dick was in, but as soon as he could, Gale was getting a hold of someone to make sure that he got out of here. He just had to be patient. He wasn't stupid, and risks were not something that he wanted to take.

Dick got up from the couch and walked toward the closet. His gait was slow and steady like it always was. Someone who wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere. Gale looked up at where he had disappeared as he heard the safe unlock and then lock again. Out Dick came with a laptop bag. 

"I stole this computer from someone who really wants it back. I want you to crack the code on it and get me in so I can see who secured the information and go after them for my boss."

"And why would you think that I could do that?" Gale asked.

Dick grabbed the notepad from the coffee table and flipped seven pages in and showed Gale the code that he been working on. It was all something for MI6, but it wasn't anything that was standout on what it was. 

"I know enough about code, and I have a friend I sent a picture of the first few lines of to and he said that you are wickedly smart. So, you do this, and I'll let you go."

"You want me to hack a laptop?" Gale asked.

"Yes. I want you to hack a laptop and the hard drive on it. Then when you have done that you can go." 

"Shit," Gale said, and he dropped his accent. It had been so hard to keep it when he wasn't talking to someone. "Buggering hell."

"You're British," Dick said.

"Yes. I have mastered several various accents to help settle down people in the business world. I perfected that one because the assholes I worked with didn't like that I was British. Give it here."

"After dinner. Go back to reading. There is no Wi-Fi in here, and I've set up things to stop signal from reaching here at all, so don't even think about touching this to send out a message."

Gale nodded his head, he itched to touch the laptop. He itched to work on it, no matter what kind of signal it got. He could easily get into the phone and go from there. It was all laughably stupid to even Gale with limited technology. He could do it, and then the first time that Dick stepped back out to go to get breakfast, it would get sent, and everything would be fine. Gale would be rescued. It was a plan. He would have to see what the laptop could do and if he could link up through Bluetooth to the cellphone that he had seen Dick on. It was high end and secure, but that was simple to Gale. 

Watching Dick cook was something that Gale tried not to do, but tonight it was enchanting, or he was just that fucking bored with a laptop beside him that he wasn't allowed to touch. Dick might seem like he was docile, but he was scary in the same way that cops were. Friendly but you know that they have the training needed to do what they needed to do. Or soldiers. Soldiers were the same way. Gale had never been on the wrong side of the law. Not really in a way that made him scared of law enforcement, but he had a healthy respect for the fact that not all of them were good. 

The smell of dinner as it cooked drew Gale over to where he was seated at the island for the first time outside of when he ate breakfast in the morning. He watched as the meat that Dick had prepared before was seared in a pan with a little of the marinade it had been in was basted over it each time it was turned. There was something with vegetables in a different skillet and then another with a sauce in it. He had seen something go into the oven, and a bottle of wine was breathing on the counter. Gale stopped because there were two bottles on the counter. The second was not open, and it was a great deal smaller. 

Gale reached over and grabbed the second bottle to see that it was a pear dessert wine. The label and the bottle just screamed money. More money than Gale probably would ever pay for something that was gone in seconds. Gale had passions, but all of them were things that were very much set in a lasting phase. He bought good things that lasted. Not ephemeral things that no lasting pleasures beyond how long it took to go from lips to throat. He had never had the kind of money that someone like Dick had, though. He figured that once someone bought everything that they wanted and needed that lasted, there was nothing left to spend money on other than things that didn't. 

"Come around," Dick said without turning away from the stove. 

"Why?" Gale asked. He wasn't scared. He just wasn't sure what there was about dinner that required him to be near the stove.

"Because this isn't something that I can just slop on a plate like the other things." Dick walked to the fridge and pulled out another bowl of something and a block of cheese.

Gale followed him back around the island to see that it looked like whatever the food was, it had to be assembled. Dick pulled corn tortillas out of the oven. Fancy tacos. Dick had made fancy tacos. Gale wasn't about to let them go to waste. He grabbed half of the shells and arranged them on the plate before he snagged more meat than usual and a good bit of the veg. The bowl was pico de gallo, and the cheese was being crumbled up into what looked like a fine powder. It had to be cotija. Gale loved that cheese on tacos, or just about anything really. If it wasn't a big thing in the area for people his age to use on tacos, Gale would wonder if Dick knew more about him than he thought. 

Pushing away the paranoia, Gale finished his tacos and turned around to head toward where he usually ate, but he stopped as it would be hard to eat tacos there. He walked around the island and settled onto the chair had sat on before just in time for Dick to set his food down across from him. The wine glasses were moved closer and then filled up. Gale grabbed his to take a sip, the wine was sweet and dry and tasted like it would go well with the meal. 

Gale picked up his first taco and took a bite, unable to hold back the moan at the flavours. The sauce that Dick had made just made everything so damned good. He wondered what kind of man did what he did for a living and learned to cook like this. It was just horrible that Gale wasn't going to get food like this again and again. Dick needed to be stopped in his job, though, and that was the only thing that mattered. Maybe in prison, Dick could work in the kitchen. 

There was no talking as they both ate and Gale found that he drank more wine than normal, but it wasn't a very strong one, so it didn't go to his head. 

"Go start up the laptop and I'll get dessert served."

There was no way that Dick had made dessert, nothing that he had touched was remotely sweet. Gale only nodded his head and walked over to the computer, snagging his wine glass to drain the last few sips before he settled on the floor in front of the coffee table. He worked better like that. 

The laptop booted up quickly, but he could see that the battery was going to die soon. He dug around in the bag for the charger and found it, moving to plug it into a floor outlet before putting it into the computer. He got ready to type out his code to get past the main screen for the computer to boot up to the desktop. There was no password. That meant hidden files. 

Coming out of his hacking haze, Gale remembered why he didn't do deep dives around other people. He lost all ability to see anything around him. Dick was sitting behind him, legs on either side of his body. There were two huge slabs of cheesecake drizzled in chocolate sauce on the coffee table, and the bottle of dessert wine was breathing. It was fucking intimate, and right then, Gale didn't give a fuck. He worked on the laptop to get the code running that he needed to find the last traces of anything hidden after he found and removed several false trails. He had also already set up everything that was needed to get a hold of MI6, more specifically M who he had only talked to over the phone. It seemed that Dick's phone had a Bluetooth set up to the car and the range was fucking massive and could reach all the way up to where they were. By the morning, he would be free. 

Gale got up on his knees and turned around to face Dick. There were so many warning bells going off in his head, but there was also a lot of lust mixed in there. It was like that whole thing about falling for the bad boy. Only Gale knew that he was never going to ever change this man. There was no saving him with love or his prick. There was just getting what he wanted and getting out. The thing was that bad boys' also gave really good sex and Gale really wanted that. He had been pushing down his physical attraction to Dick since the moment they met but seeing him getting ready in the mornings, because the man went from bathroom to closet in a fucking towel meant that Gale was ramped up and had been but refused to jerk off. He didn't want to give Dick the satisfaction of seeing his release on a towel or something and jerking off in the shower had never been his thing. 

"The computer," Dick pointed out, his head tipping toward it.

"The scan that I am doing is going to take at least three hours. The computer and the hard drive that's on it are very, very well protected. I'm not needed for this part." Gale knew the code that he was running like the back of his hand. He could use it in his sleep. 

"Then you should sleep," Dick said.

"I'm never getting to sleep as it stands right now. Not without help." Gale laid his hands on Dick's thighs and ran them up, pressing his thumbs into the place where hip and thigh met. He could feel the ridiculous muscles under and knew that if this wasn't what Dick wanted, he would have no issue getting Gale off of him. That feeling was something that Gale loved. Dick's eyes were dark, and it was a shade that Gale hadn't seen yet. He grinned and started to lean in.

Only to have Dick grab him by the throat and jerk him up. Gale got a knee on the couch between his legs to help shoulder the weight of his body, and he just stared into Dick's eyes as the man stared at him. 

"You really shouldn't want to fuck the man who kidnapped you," Dick said.

"You shouldn't want to want to fuck the man you kidnapped." Gale felt a little satisfaction at the little look that he got. It wasn't quite shame but something damned close. "You are perfectly my type without some of the worse tendencies, other than the killing."

"What worse tendencies?" Dick asked. His other hand came up and splayed over Gale's hip to pull him close. Gale had to give up his hold on Dick's thighs and grab his shoulders. Fuck, he was a brick. Gale felt his cock start to harden all on its own. 

"Abuse and controlling."

"Ah, that's what the little tests have been. Like stealing my clothes and showing off in the shower that first day. Don't worry, I don't hurt my lovers unless they ask for it. This is still stupid. You have no clue what I do for a living, and you will be turned loose as soon as I don't need you and you will never see me again."

"I've not had a steady lover in years. Usually, one night stands, don't worry about that." 

"Hmm," Dick hummed. He was looking for something in Gale's eyes, and he seemed to have found it because he was standing up, holding Gale up as he did until Gale got his legs wrapped around his waist. Gale leaned in and kissed Dick as he walked them toward the bed. 

There was no hesitancy in Dick now. He stripped them both down to nothing before pinning Gale to the bed with his hands and hips, devouring his mouth. 

"What's your excuse?" Gale asked when Dick finally started to kiss down his body, his hands leaving heat marks on his skin.

"I like mouthy shits," Dick said.

Gale laughed. He butted his cheek into Dick's and caught his mouth when it turned toward him again. Gale could get lost in his kisses, and he kind of wanted to. He didn't care if this was some weird version of Stockholm, he wasn't going to help him any more than he had. He got what he wanted. He had access, and the message along with the coordinates of where they were according to the car's GPS was sent to MI6. They could deal with the rest. 

Dick prepared him quickly but efficiently before sliding inside of him. Gale grabbed the bedding below him. The stretch and burn was fucking perfect, and it made his cock start to leak. He loved being opened up like that. He wasn't sure how Dick knew it or if he had just caught on with how Gale hated being fucked with his fingers. There was a time and a place for that kind of stuff but now wasn't it. Not when Gale was gagging for a good fuck. 

There was nothing to do now but wait for Dick to start moving. They weren't kissing anymore, but Dick was still pressed close to him, his breathing harsh in the silence of the room. Gale squeezed with his ass muscles, and the hand that had been helping to guide Dick's prick into him grabbed Gale's hip and squeezed in a warning. He was close, too close to move or he was going to orgasm. Gale felt smug about that. 

Right up until Dick started to move. Every single thrust was full of power and rubbed just right in all of the good places. Yeah, Dick was good at this, probably been trained for it by the best whores. The feel of the condom was reassuring as he felt the rolled section pressing to him. Dick was going all the way in every single time. Gale could only hold on. 

Especially when the hand that wasn't bracing Dick on the bed slipped under Gale and pulled him up. Gale wasn't sure what was happening until he was seated in Dick's lap, his prick going places it hadn't due to the angle. 

"Fuck," Gale whispered as Dick held him in place and fucked up into him. It took Gale a few minutes to get his feet under himself and help but thrusting down onto the cock as it split him open. He grabbed Dick's shoulders as a brace and the rhythm they set had him so fucking close that he could taste it in the back of his throat. He was imagining the feel of the release inside of him, even though he couldn't feel it. He missed that from the only steady lover he had trusted to be clean and fuck him. 

Gale's prick was rubbing on Dick's abs and stomach, making the only friction that he needed to come and he did. Dick kept on fucking him, manipulating his body up and down more as he fucked up into him, getting his own release. That was precisely what he needed. 

* * *

A large clanging bang woke him up. Gale grabbed the blankets and tried to find his knife, but it took precious seconds for him to realize that he was not by the window, he was still in bed, and Dick was in front of him, a gun drawn, aimed at where seven guys in tactical suits had breached the flat. Gale wasn't sure if it was MI6 or one of Dick's people, so he got behind Dick when the arm shoved him over. The men in tactical gear though were not firing, and within two seconds, Dick was lowering the gun. So it had to be Dick's people. Gale ruthlessly held onto the sob in his throat. MI6 wasn't going to find him. He was fucked.

"007," a woman said. 

"M," Dick said. 

Gale looked at the woman that stepped between the men. He was barely peaking over Dick's shoulder, but she looked formidable. This was either a very elaborate ruse, or that really was M and Dick was not who he thought he was.

"Funny about being here when you are supposed to be dead. Shot off a train months before and body never recovered."

"You know what they say, never trust unless you see a body, especially when it's me."

"Yes, well, you would be helpful in this. I am here looking for an employee of ours that was taken. Yours was the first garage that we found, and we all know the look of your Aston Martin so I thought you would be more than helpful in finding my wayward soon to be Quartermaster once he's got the whole of Q-Branch learned. He already sent me a message with the coordinates of this building through the GPS unit in your car. R tells me it was quite ingenious. "

Gale didn't move. His body was entirely behind Dick still, and he wanted to keep it that way. 

"What's his name?" Dick asked. 

"Lynd," Gale said from behind Dick. "Gale Lynd." 

The speed at which Dick turned around, and the gun was drawn up again to be the point at Gale had him squeaking. There was something hard and unreadable on Dick's face, and for the first time, Gale felt pure fear. 

"Put the gun away, Bond," M said. 

Gale barely glanced at M as he was still focused solely on the gun in front of him. The sound of feet though stopped that. He looked to see the men in gear leaving the flat. The lift started up, and it was just M and them, with them being naked. 

"Get dressed the both of you and Bond, more than pants." 

"Yes, Ma'am," Dick said. 

Gale tried to think as he grabbed his clothes from the floor. He slipped into the closet to get dressed. They had showered at some point, the night was kind of a haze after the first round. He was pretty sure there was on in the shower, handjobs. He wondered why Gale's name was such a shock. Gale hadn't lied about his first name at all. He just hadn't told his last. Richard Sterling was at least partially a cover name as M had called him Bond and 007. Gale knew a little about the Double-Oh program. Not a lot just that he would somewhat be in charge of kitting them out with tech and such before he became Quartermaster when the old one retired in just about a year. 

"What the hell, M? Lynd? As in Vesper?" Bond hissed as Gale got to the closet entrance. He didn't go any further though wanting to hear.

"He's been vetted to the highest. He's the best, and I want the best. And I shouldn't be telling you this, but you saw her since he has."

"What?"

"Other than a passing phone call on their birthday and check-in at Christmas, those two have not been in the same room since the day that Mister Lynd got emancipation and went to university."

"Their birthday?"

"Yes, Vesper and Gale Lynd are twins."

"Oh, dear fucking God," Bond said. There was utter horror in his voice. 

Gale swallowed. That little bit of hope, that one that told him that he could have him. He could have Dick, Bond, 007, whatever his name was as they were both going to be working for the same organization burned to a crisp with those words. 

"Dismissed, 007."

"He cracked the hard drive and figured out who compiled the list and where they are," Bond said. 

"You have it? Moneypenny reported that it ended up in the man you were fighting with's hands."

"Nope. I saw the drive when I was fighting him. When I was recovered enough, I went back to where Ronson was and took the real laptop. I settled here in France to work on it and lucked into kidnapping Mister Lynd."

"I just assumed you seduced him."

"That came after."

"I'll make sure that he's properly checked over for any lingering issues as it pertains to him and his lust for dangerous men who take him hostage. As I won't need you to help me figure out who else in the building has my soon to be Quartermaster you can go. I expect you at MI6 within the week. Close up the business you have here. Mister Lynd and I will take the laptop back with us."

"Given that he hooked something in this place when I have all dampers inside, you at least picked a good one."

"He's loyal as well. To those he feels are loyal to him."

Gale finished getting his socks on, a pair he stole from Bond's piles and not the ones that were his in bags. He stepped out when he heard the lift ding. He saw Bond's backside going inside of it. M was standing where she had been, but she was looking at where the lift was.

"Did you have to sleep with him?" M asked.

"I figured that I was going to be rescued in the morning and he would be in jail. I told you when you hired me that I had a thing for dangerous men but would make sure to vet them before taking them home. He never once hurt me."

"Yes, I saw where you had been sleeping. One of my men found the tactical knife as well and the taser in the drawer."

"He got those for when I was here alone after I stole one of the knives from the kitchen."

"Why didn't you try and escape?"

"You saw the locks on this place. The only way up and down is the lift that has not only his palm print but his bio-metrics. I can't use a dead hand and getting him over there from the bed, which was about the only time I could even think that I might get enough of a drop on him to hurt him enough to where I could overpower him, would be impossible. I'm not built enough to carry his ass across the room quick enough for him to not wake up. So I bided my time. The laptop thing was something I wasn't expecting. I hoped to get his phone at some point. He didn't hurt me at all, he brought me more than enough food, drinks I liked. I just have an attraction to dangerous things, and well I had a caged tiger in my midst who wasn't exactly all that subtle about checking me out when I was naked the one time in the bathroom, and he saw me. Nor after that really but I was dressed."

"Well, I expect a full report when you are settled into work. We will go ahead and push your start date back a week to give you-"

"Not necessary, Ma'am. I will take the offer about MI6 moving my things though. That will be good enough. How did you get here that fast with a team?" Gale knew that France really wasn't that far away but to have M there.

"I've been boots on the ground since you didn't check in with your new flat in London. So we arrived and with the French ministry started to look into your disappearance and found that the time you should have left was wiped from all footage. It didn't record, we found out after. We had nothing from several cameras in the area around as well. That had us looking. Then I got your message, and it took awhile to decrypt with what we had."

"What you had?" Gale asked. He looked at M to see if she was being sly. "I gave them information on that software as well as the drives to do it three months ago when you hired me. It should have taken minutes, not hours." 

"Yes, well we found that out after one of the younger techs finally spoke up about it and that she thought that it was your program that R had slipped to the side and forgotten about. I'm going to find out if it was on accident or on purpose."

Gale nodded his head. He wasn't sure that it was part of his job at the moment to give a fuck about that. He sighed and looked around the room. "You are going to have a team clear this, yes?"

"Yes."

"I want books and tea. Everything to do with the tea. It'll save me having to buy any of those things for my office."

"I'll have those things packed up and delivered to your office. You are going to take an extra three days. I know you said you don't need it, but I think given-" M stopped and looked at the bed. "You might need to have a single visit to psych and figure out how I need to handle this going forward. It's going to work well in your favour as it means the one I was going to force you into after two weeks at work isn't needed."

"Why?"

"Because I was going to give you the full file on what happened to your sister then and make you talk it out with a psychologist."

"She's dead, that's all that I need to know. She was marked under treason and killed."

"She did betray her country, but she did try and fix it in the end for the man she came to love. She died trying to protect him." 

Gale nodded his head and looked out at the city. It was just starting to wake up, and Gale felt like he had been awake for days on end. 

"Did you want to keep the knife as well?"

"And the taser."

"How do you feel about taking a train home?"

"No, thank you, Ma'am. I'll ride back with you. I'm sure that there is a temporary housing somewhere until my things get moved over. I can buy new clothes easy if I can get a loan."

"Loan?"

"My ID and everything like that is at home. I rarely took cards into work. Usually just cash. My badge for work was all that I ever needed. That is how he didn't know who I was."

"I just assumed you had ditched your wallet and would need new everything. We will stop at your place and get that, and a bag packed before we head back. I have a jet waiting to take off as soon as we are ready."

Gale nodded his head and followed her toward the lift. 

The trip to his flat was quick and then to the airport even quicker. The jet was indeed waiting on them and M and her guard never said a thing to him as he curled into a seat in the back corner where he could see the door and watched as everyone moved. Gale wasn't sure what he was feeling, but the freedom he had now was a little daunting. He had planned for his escape, but not after and being rescued from someone who was never a threat, to begin with, was strange. His card had never been noticed that he had never handed it in, not before his virus wiped his existence from the system. He had been missing, and no one knew. That told him the sad state of his life, but then he hadn't minded it before he had been kidnapped by a man he thought was an assassin set out to kill someone in the building that he worked in. 

"What's his name?" Gale asked the man who was with M. He looked like a mild-mannered man, but there was a small air of danger in him as well. Something that Gale figured that he would have to get used to as it would be like that with most of the people that he worked with for the coming while. 

The man sat down in the seat across from Gale with a soft smile on his face. 

"James Bond. We don't have his full file with us, but M called ahead for it and the Casino Royale mission to be printed off for your reading."

"The mission that saw the death of Vesper?" Gale asked.

"Yes. It was-" the man looked back at M, but she was on the phone. "It was Bond's first mission as a Double-Oh. It ended, and he was never the same."

"What's your name?"

"Bill Tanner. I'm Chief of Staff for MI6 and work with M on a lot of things, Mister Lynd."

"Gale, please. I...I don't think that my name is all that kosher to use for now."

"M will never allow anyone to treat you unfairly. Though I don't think that will be much of an issue. You were vetted, and she trusts you, and that will go a long way. Only those who need to know will know who you are."

"No," Gale said.

"Excuse me?" Tanner asked.

"That just breeds distrust if it does come out and given what a hotbed of gossip places of work are, it will. I'd rather be upfront about it." Gale had never felt proud of being Vesper's twin, not since the day she had walked out of his life and never came back. He wasn't proud of her now. He had no clue what had caused her to do what she did and how that put her on the path of Bond. Gale knew that she had worked for the Treasury, but he had no clue how that would put her on the path of Bond. 

It was strange to think of him as anything other than Dick. 

"I read over the SOS you sent...you called him Dick," Tanner said. 

"What has M told you about me, personal things that is?" Gale asked. 

Tanner held up a hand and then closed that hand into an almost fist. He kept a single finger up. Tanner stood up and walked to the galley on the jet. Which was the way that he had come from before Gale had stopped him. Gale listened to him, pouring out water and doing something else. 

"Cream and sugar?" Tanner asked.

"What kind of tea?" 

"Earl Grey. The team going over the flat said it was the most used. I know Bond only drinks the stuff if he has to so it was assumed it was your favourite. Oh, by the way, the tea items and the books are already packed up and are being sent back first. They will be in your office as soon as possible."

"Thanks and nothing. I drink Earl Grey straight." 

Tanner came back a minute later with two cups of tea in his hand. He set them down and then went back, coming back with a small saucer that was placed between them with nothing on it. Gale wasn't sure what it was for until he saw Tanner lifting his bag out of his cup and letting it drain before he settled it there. Gale took a sip of his tea and didn't find it strong enough yet. He let his sit there for another few minutes.

"Go on with what you were saying about you. I have access to your file, but I tend to let myself get to know people and then read their file. I don't like being jaded by things that are more detailed than what is on paper."

"A good way of doing things. I tend to get sarcastic and as one of my friends from university said, sassy in the face of things that put me off-kilter. I let my mouth run. It's gotten me into a fight more than once as I am not kind when I do it. I go for the worst thing and just dig a hole. Bond introduced himself as Richard Sterling, and I latched onto Dick to piss him off." 

Tanner laughed. It was subtle at first and then got deeper. He nearly upended his tea. Gale smiled at him. Tanner took a few minutes to compose himself before he took a drink of his tea.

"Sterling was a cover ID that he used for a mission. The ID was never cleared from the system, but there was supposed to be an alert. The credentials were lost during the mission and never recovered. If he used it, it should have put an alert through us. I wonder why it didn't."

"Well, he's adept at technology. I could see in the log of the computer that every stroke was recorded. He had tried a lot of middle to advanced hacking tricks to try and get on it. So I would say that he's been in the system and the IDs that he's kept from his missions that were reported lost are not actually lost but in a vault of his somewhere. Then he made sure that MI6 wasn't going to be alerted to anything."

"He's used M's credentials before to log into her account to get access to things that he shouldn't," Tanner offered.

"Then he's advanced enough to be dangerous to my system. I'll make sure to track down any and everything that's needed to make sure that I at least know when he's in the system where he shouldn't be. I refuse to block access just in case what he needs, he needs. Sometimes it's easier to dig on your own than to tell someone how to dig, especially if his life is on the line. But I'll at least know when he's in there."

"That's..." Tanner trailed off and looked at M. 

"Part of the reason that M hired me was to bring MI6 to the cutting edge as we are lagging behind the rest of the world, especially the criminal element when it comes to technology. Yet, that also means making sure that the Double-Ohs have what they need, even if it's access they really shouldn't. Obviously, he'll be monitored. He doesn't need full access to everything that M has access to, but when he's looked in the past, what has he gained access to?"

"What he needed for the mission. Looking at images of men to figure out who he had seen and then followed that trail to the person at the end, that he ended up being part of why he was taken out."

"Then so far he's not a threat, he's not getting into anything that he shouldn't. How different would that have been if you were the one going through the images and showing them to him and then doing what he said?"

"Nothing really." Tanner leaned back and looked at Gale like he had never seen someone like him before. He was relaxed in a way that was calming and not irritating. Gale could understand why M wanted him as the Chief of Staff, or just in MI6 at all. 

The rest of the short flight home to London was quick and quiet, other than the soft sounds of M on the phone. Gale got the feeling that M didn't leave London often, which she really shouldn't given she is the head of MI6 but he also gets the feeling that when she does leave, she goes mainly for Bond. 

It's raining in London and Gale is dropped off at a flat with Tanner. The building is nice, and it has a doorman and a load of security. Gale figured that there was a scattering of agents and other MI6 staff in the building. That meant it was safe. Tanner had everything on him that was needed to get Gale into his flat, which was turned over as soon as Tanner was inside. It was the penthouse flat, which wasn't something that Gale cared about, but it was massive. It was the whole floor where it seemed to Gale that the rest of the place was two per floor. The buttons for each flat had a key slot beside them so Gale assumed that it was a method to make sure that everyone could get to their floor easier. 

"MI6 bought the building years ago for various reasons. It holds some upper staff as well as more than a few agents who don't have family or are married with no children. As you saw in the lift, there are two doors. One opens to each side of the place, and each key tells the lift what door to open up. Your key will only open up this floor. There is a master key that is kept in a safe that's hidden in M's office that will open up every single door, but it's never been needed."

"Where does Bond live?" Gale asked.

"Well, at the moment, nowhere. His flat was closed up as is standard when an agent with no family dies. There is a flat directly below this that M is getting ready to stick him in. Is that why you asked?"

"He didn't hurt me, even when he could have to get me to do what he wanted easier and I'm not scared of him, but I just wanted to make sure that I was ready to face him in the lift with groceries in my hand." Gale wasn't scared of Bond, despite the man holding a gun on him. He didn't have that file yet about what Vesper had to do with a mission with them, but he assumed that Bond took it personally that she had betrayed her country. Being faced with her sibling, twin or not, in the way that he had was sure to be a shock. 

It was something that Gale wondered how it all would have gone if he had told Bond his last name when it had been asked. How everything would have gone with that. Nowhere near where it was now, Gale was pretty damned sure of that. He wasn't sure he wanted to really go that far into everything either. 

By the time that Tanner left, a courier had come over with the files about Casino Royale and Bond. Gale looked at them for a few minutes on the island in the middle of the kitchen before he set about calling in a food order to be dropped off and made tea. He went for something that was slightly caffeinated. The tea selection that was already present had been a shock, but he figured that Tanner had been the one to make sure it got there between France and them arriving. The mug was plain and black, but Gale had more than a few mugs in his flat that was being shipped over. He had time before he was going to be going to work so he would make sure that his kitchen was set up and the rest of the flat would follow. Priority on the bathroom and bedroom. 

The flat was already furnished, top of the line things in the kitchen and soft and comfortable things in the living room and bedroom. The bed was massive, and Gale figured that he would have a little bit of time getting used to sleeping on a bed that was that big. He wasn't upset about that. He had a lot that he was going to get used to, and the bigger bed would allow for him spreading out. 

It was strange standing in the middle of his new flat. He looked at the windows, not nearly as big as the ones that had been in the flat that he had lived in for the past near week. Yet there was a nook, a window seat with a bench spread across it. He could settle there and sleep tonight, getting used to being here before he got used to a real bed and living alone. He had lived alone since university, so there was no reason to fear it. He hadn't spent all that long being held captive by Bond, but here he was worried about how he was going to get through the night. It was fucking miserable is what it was. 

When the food arrived, Gale settled at the island to read over the Casino Royale file while he ate and sipped at his tea. He found the dry words that summed up all accounts something that grated at him. There were more details in each other summary, including Bond's. His was full of anger, though. There was a lot of anger and Gale could understand it. There were reports by Vesper in there as well. Including a letter that she had left in the hotel room that she had been staying in with Bond. It had been found by an MI6 team, and while Bond had read it, there was nothing about his reaction to it. It was strange to see it in her writing after so long. 

The biggest thing about it though was that she didn't mention Gale at all. She said her goodbyes to Bond and no one else. Gale stood up and started to go through the cabinets, but there was nothing. There was no alcohol. There had been a few things for snacks and the makings of pasta but nothing else in the cabinets that looked to have been hastily stocked given what had happened. 

The phone by the lift rang. Gale stalked over to it and picked it up.

"Hello," Gale said into it.

"Mister Lynd, I have a gentleman here who refuses to give a name. He has an access card but refuses to give it over. He asked for you by name but doesn't know where you are staying."

It had to be Bond. 

"Tell him that if he comes back with enough liquor to down an elephant, I'll let him up."

"He's holding up two bags of something already, and the look on his face tells me that he's going to attempt to kill me."

"Send him up." Q sighed and hung up the phone before he tapped out the code that allowed lift to allow people up to his floor. It was a good measure and made sure that Q didn't have to go down and escort them up. The security member on staff did have to put in their key to allow it as well. Then the lift went back down to the first floor to allow them to get their key back. If the lift was summoned from inside of the flats, it worked like usual, no key needed. 

Q walked back to where he had been sitting and reading files and picked those up again while he waited for Bond to come up. He heard the movement of the car in the shaft, he heard the doors opening, but he never looked up. There were two bags set down in front of him. Gale looked up to see that one was full of tea. Loose-leaf boxed tea as well as a tea strainer. 

"That's not alcohol," Gale said as he pointed at the bag. 

"No." Bond reached into the second bag and out came a bottle of scotch so expensive that Gale never looked at it in the store. Out of the bag came two glasses and then a box of Chinese food from Gale's favourite place in the city. That though wasn't pushed toward Gale, but Bond did start to dig into it. 

Gale grabbed the bottle and opened it up and poured himself two fingers and then three for Bond. He knew well enough about the man's ability to drink. It was documented in his file. As well as his string of lovers in the city that were married. James Bond liked his lovers married so that he didn't have to worry about them getting attached. The strangest thing was that more than one of the husbands knew and didn't care. Bond even played racquetball with one of them. It was strange as hell that Bond lived that kind of life. It still did not explain why he was there at Gale's new flat. With tea. 

"So, start talking, or I'm having security throw you out," Gale said.

Bond chuckled, and the smile on his face was strange to Gale. He looked...content in a way that he really shouldn't not being here in Gale's flat. 

"I came to allow you to ask any questions that you wanted to about your sister."

"I washed my hands of her long ago, 007. I was notified when she died, allowed to do what was needed to make sure that she was buried, but I really don't care what she did to betray England. I stopped caring about that a long time ago. If she had shown up and begged me to help her with it at the risk of her dying, I probably would have just handed her over to the cops and not cared."

"I don't..." Bond grabbed the scotch and down it in one go. Gale took a sip of his. This wasn't the kind of stuff that one treated like Bond was treating it. It was meant to be savoured, not drunk like a freshman in university. 

"You don't what?"

"I don't understand the pair of you at all."

"There is nothing you need to understand. She's dead, and we are co-workers now."

"She never mentioned family at all. Oh, she talked about her dead parents, and now that I know what happened, she projected onto me about being an orphan but she never. Even when she was dying, she didn't tell me to tell you that she was sorry or that she missed you or loved you."

"I wasn't willing to do what she wanted to make her happy after our parents died, and it broke us. I learned to live with it a long time ago. The sixty-four million dollar question is how you are going to react to what we did." 

"Yes, I've already had my bollocks threatened if this turns you away. I learned a lot in the wake of Vesper and what she did. What my missions have done to me. And even getting shot off of a bridge and realizing how fucking stupid I was because Ronson was smart and I know him. I could have made my way free of Turkey before those people even realized that I had the correct computer, and they had a decoy. I trained Ronson myself in everything. I knew, but I was angry at them killing him."

"I don't have the file on that. Just your mission that you crossed paths with Vesper on and your main file."

"You are meant to be Quartermaster once you have everything under control on learning what you need. You'll read them all."

"How do you know?"

"I learned everything that I needed about in that damned lift and then the days that followed. I tried to put you to bed one night."

"What?" Gale asked. He looked up at Bond to see that he was staring at him. 

"That second night. You were so tired you never woke up, but you dug in your nails enough to draw blood and threatened to kill me with a rusty spoon by cutting off my bollocks. So I made sure to take care of you in other ways so that you didn't have a lack of care in my hands. I am just grateful for it because otherwise, M would have my bollocks for garters."

"I can see her doing that. So what is this then?"

"This is making nice with the man who will be sending me out with items that will either allow me to survive or kill me on a mission."

"I would never send an agent out with anything but what they need to complete a mission. Especially never with anything that was designed to kill them. Even you." 

Bond just gave Gale a smile. It was different than the few ones that he had received when he had been Bond's hostage. It was something that made Gale's stomach clench a little. That draw was still there, Gale's attraction to things that could hurt him. He wasn't one to keep on doing stupid things, though. 

Silence lapsed around them, and Gale wasn't sure what he was feeling as it felt...normal. It felt like before. Gale sipped at his scotch and read over what was left of the file as Bond finished off his meal. This was something more than just that, though. Gale looked at Bond, who was watching him. 

"What are you thinking?" Gale asked. He knew it was stupid as Bond was going to flirt and not answer. 

"That I miss that place already."

"What place?" Gale asked.

"France and the flat. Getting to watch you sitting and reading in a corner until you fall asleep. Knowing that all I needed to do was goad you into a fight."

"What are you saying?" Gale asked. 

"It was impulsive to take you to bed, but I assumed the same thing that you did. That we would have that night, maybe another or two before I went on my way and released you back to the life you were living before me. Then I got your name and I was scared."

"Scared?" Gale asked. There was nothing about James Bond having fear at all in his file. That he was actually perfectly fine with hiding his fear if he had any. No one at MI6 thought that Bond had fear in him at all. Gale knew that this file wasn't all that Bond was, but it was enough for him to understand that this was something that had never been done before. 

Bond had retired for Vesper before finding out that she was a traitor. He had given it all up for her. Yet for Gale, he wasn't going to have to give up anything. Gale wasn't sure if that was why Bond was doing this. He could have his cake and eat it, too. But as he looked at him, Gale knew that this wasn't that for Bond. This was Bond knowing that Gale wasn't going to betray him. Gale was safe. 

"You were so selfless. You kept your name so that I couldn't do anything to pressure you into something. I would have, too. Found out who your family was. Though that wouldn't have ended up good at all as I am not sure how I would have reacted to Lynd that first day."

"Your file states that you don't do feelings," Gale said. Trying to cover how his hand was shaking.

"They were burned out of me a long time ago, by Vesper. I think it's only right that you were the one to put them back into me." 

It was a risk. A huge risk. There was nothing about Bond anywhere that said that he was built for this. That he would actually be someone who was a good long term lover. He was the love them and leave them type. But despite everything that said this was going to be horrible, that he was going to get his heartbroken, he wanted this, and he was going to do it. 

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story! 
> 
> I can be found on MeWe [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot.


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